Win Or Lose, Dimitrov Is In A Happy Place At Paris Masters

Grigor Dimitrov
Grigor Dimitrov (photo: ATP Tour video)

PARIS/WASHINGTON, October 27, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

At 34, Grigor Dimitrov is the oldest competitor at this week’s 40th edition of the Rolex Paris Masters, which began play Monday in its new home, the Paris La Défense Arena. However, give him a tennis racquet, put him in the spotlight and he’s young at heart.

The Bulgarian is happy to be back on court – one of the boys – and he’s been a smiles since arriving in the City of Lights for the year’s last ATP Masters 1000 event. After missing 14 weeks due to a pectoral muscle tear, which he suffered last July during the fourth round at Wimbledon and forced him to retire after leading then-World No. 1 Jannik Sinner two sets to one, Dimitrov is hopeful of a positive return to the tour this week in Paris.

“There are a lot of good and mixed feelings in the most positive way, but it’s nice to be back with the boys and starting to challenge each other again,” Dimitrov said during a pre-tournament interview with the ATP Tour website. “It’s been a good week for me so far, trying to get as many hours as possible on the court because this is what I’ve craved. At the same time, I’m also trying to keep things at the most basic stuff.

“Of course, my goal is coming back to full force next year, but it’s a great challenge for me right now just to see how the body will respond.”

The 38th-ranked Dimitrov, who had compiled a lifetime record of 24-12 in 13 previous appearances at the Rolex Paris Masters and reached the 2023 title match, was featured in a Monday evening match on the 17,500-seat Court Central against No. 56 Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard of France that was full of cheering fans and even featured a colorful laser light and music show that added to the overall entertainment value. Dimitrov was warmly applauded by the mostly-partisan French fans throughout his 7-6 (5), 6-1 victory, which was accomplished in an hour and 35 minutes and aided by 26 winners.

“I just wanted to come out and test myself, give myself a chance,” Dimitrov said during his on-court interview with ATP Media. “Winning or losing, I saw what it felt like. I gave it all I had. … It was a good night. I’m taking it in and going just one day at a time for the moment.”

Coming in, Dimitrov was an unblemished 12-0 in opening rounds and looking to become just the fourth player to record 25 career wins in the tournament – and he did just that with his straight-set triumph over Mpetshi Perricard. Dimitrov outpointed Mpetshi Perricard 78-63.

With a career win-loss record of 477-372, Dimitrov has won nine tour-level titles and also been ranked as high as World No. 3. But the question on the minds of many in tennis media: Why come back now instead of early next year in time for the Australian Open?

“I’ve always loved these last tournaments of the year,” said Dimitrov, who will face either No. 11 seed Daniil Medvedev or No. 36 Jaume Munar in the second round. “Overall, I’m not trying to overthink anything right now, just trying to be as kind as possible to me, to my body, and to test myself to really see what else I need to be working on, especially coming into the next season.”

Big opening day for French players

The last Frenchman to win the Rolex Paris Masters was Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2008. This year, there are seven French players featured in the main draw vying to end the French drought. Five of them were in action on the tournament’s opening day – three of them on Court Central in La Défense Arena. By the end of the day, the French went 3-2, winning two of three on Court Central and splitting a pair of matches on Court 1.

• First, wild card Arthur Cazaux, ranked 62nd, began play on the new Court Central against No. 27 Luciano Darderi of Italy, and scored a nice 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4) upset victory in two hours and 18 minutes. Cazaux (15-14) wrapped up his second Top-50 win of the season behind 16 aces and 31 winners overall. 

Cazaux allied from 2-5 down in the second to pull out the win and advanced to the second round against either No. 15 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain or 59th-ranked French lucky loser Valentin Royer, who play Tuesday.

• Then, another wild card, No. 29 Arthur Rinderknech, who is fresh off his runner-up finish at the Rolex Shanghai Masters, opposed No. 48 Fabian Marozsan of Hungary. Also featured on Court Central, Rinderknech rose to the occasion. The Frenchman rallied in both sets and pulled off a 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4), victory in two hours and six minutes and gave Parisians something big to cheer about. The 30-year-old Rinderknech, who won the final four points of the skirmish, improved to 20-1 in matches this season in which he’s won the first set. 

Rinderknech’s 27th win of the season, behind an attack in which he struck 37 winners – including 16 aces – advanced him to a possible rematch of his Rolex Shanghai Masters final against his cousin, Valentin Vacherot of Monaco, who plays No. 14 seed Jiri Lehecka in the first round on Tuesday.

“I’m a competitor. I love playing tennis. I want to play every week,” Rinderknech said over the weekend during his pre-tournament news conference. “I want to get on court to put up a fight. This is everything I love.”

After the match, Rinderknech spoke highly of the Court Central optics: “It’s a nice court to play on. The atmosphere was really nice right from the Monday, second match, and it was pleasant. I was able to play well in the two tiebreaks and have the public behind me. It’s a great center court with a great public.”

• Despite hitting 13 aces, 69th-ranked wild card Terence Atmane of France fell to 103rd-ranked Australian qualifier Aleksandar Vukic, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, in a hard-fought hour and 53 minutes on Court 1 in their first tour-level main draw match.

• No. 44 Alexandre Muller defeated on 33rd-ranked Brandon Nakashima of the United States, 6-2, 7-5, on Court 1 in their first tour-level meeting after the American previously beat the Frenchman twice on the ATP Challenger Tour. Muller gave the French fans something to cheer about on the outer court and celebrated his triumph with a leaping right fist pump. 

• Last year’s finalist, French No. 1 Ugo Humbert, withdrew Monday citing lumbar pain. The 22nd-ranked Humbert’s place in the draw was taken by another Frenchman, lucky loser Valentin Royer. The 59th-ranked Royer will face No. 15 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain in the first round.

Around La Défense Arena

• Among the seeded winners: No. 12 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia needed just 78 minutes to defeat 78th-ranked British qualifier Jacob Fearnley, 6-4, 6-4, taking advantage of five breaks of serve, to garner his first win since the US Open. It improved the Russian’s win-loss record this season to 33-24.

“I had a very good [opponent] today,” Rublev said afterward. “He can play very well, he’s won good matches this year. I was able to step up and play solid tennis. I’ve been struggling for a while with the wins. To win such a match like this on centre court, it’s a good feeling.”

Also, No. 10 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia rolled to an early 6-1, 6-1 victory in one hour over 71st-ranked American qualifier Ethan Quinn, outpointing him 54-28; and No. 13 seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan fired 13 aces and advanced over No. 47 Alexei Popyrin of Australia, 6-4, 6-3. It was their second meeting in an ATP Masters 1000 this season after Madrid.

• Other Monday winners: No. 23 Flavio Cobolli of Italy needed just 54 minutes to advance over No. 34 Tomas Machac of Czechia, 6-1, 6-4, behind a strong performance that included 17 winners and three breaks of his opponent’s serve. No. 50 Daniel Altmaier of Germany fired seven aces in his 6-2, 7-6 (5) win over No. 65 Marcos Giron of the United States. No. 31 Cameron Norrie of Great Britain outpointed No. 43 Sebastian Baez of Argentina 64-57 in his 6-3, 6-4 victory to set up a second-round tussle with World No. 1 and top seed Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday evening.

Also, in his Rolex Paris Masters debut, No. 39 Learner Tien of the United States converted three of eight break points to defeat No. 46 Nuno Borges of Portugal, 6-2, 7-6 (7). No. 21 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina fought past 63rd-ranked qualifier Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia-Herzegovina, 6-3, 6-3, in which he outpointed his opponent 62-48. No. 41 Zizou Bergs of Belgium went the distance to defeat No. 35 Alex Michelsen of the United States, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, outpointing the American 82-77, to set up a second-round meeting with No. 2 seed Jannik Sinner on Wednesday. No. 45 Lorenzo Sonego of Italy took out 54th-ranked American qualifier Sebastian Korda, 6-2, 6-3 by winning 82 percent of his first-serve-points. No. 53 Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia needed a third-set tie-break to beat 64th-ranked American lucky loser Aleksandar Kovacevic, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (2).

• Four positions remain for the Nitto ATP Finals qualification this week. While American Taylor Fritz is one who has a place locked up for Turin, another, Ben Shelton looks in prime position in his bid to make his year-end finals debut. He’s currently in sixth place in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin standings. If he does, Fritz and Shelton would be the first American duo to qualify since James Blake and Andy Roddick in 2006. They are two of a tournament-high 10 Americans in the singles main draw.

• Frenchman Nicolas Mahut announced his plans to retire after this year’s Rolex Paris Masters. The 43-year-old Mahut, who won the 2019 doubles title, will make his 19th and final appearance by pairing with Grigor Dimitrov, who returns from an injury sustained at Wimbledon. It comes 25 years after Mahut debuted as a doubles wild card at the 2000 Paris event with Arnaud Clement.

In his doubles career, Mahut has won 37 tour-level titles, all four Grand Slam tournaments – five majors overall – and peaked at World No. 1 in 2016.

• There are three former Rolex Paris Masters champions in this year’s tournament field: 2018 titlist Karen Khachanov, 2020 winner Daniil Medvedev and last year’s champion Alexander Zverev, who defeated Ugo Humbert in the final. Zverev will attempt to become the second player to successfully defend a Paris title in tournament history after Novak Djokovic won three consecutive Paris crowns from 2013-15. Djokovic, who owns the most titles (7) and tournament victories (50), withdrew his entry from this year’s event last week.

Monday’s Rolex Paris Masters results

Tuesday’s Rolex Paris Masters order of play

By the numbers

There are a total of 21 different countries represented in the 56-player singles main draw at the Rolex Paris Masters this year. The United States has placed a tournament-high 10 players in the draw, France follows with seven, and both Argentina and Italy have five.

“Quotable …”

“It’s different, because it will never be the same as Bercy. Bercy was mythical, thanks to the history and what happened, but I guess the public is the same, the same connoisseurs of tennis come to La Defense that went to Bercy, and it’s the same tournament, same atmosphere, same colors, same conditions. Obviously, it’s not the same.

“But the arena is beautiful. The center court is beautiful. The music and colors when you come in are beautiful. For us tennis players we cannot but be happy to have these excellent conditions.”

– Arthur Rinderknech of France, during his post-match news conference, after playing in and winning his first Court Central match at La Défense Arena on Monday.

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